North Korean party members assigned to flood relief work in Uiju county provoked conflict with local residents by digging up private farmland for clay needed for construction projects. The incident occurred Sept. 6 in Kangun village, where North Pyongan province “shock troops” clashed with villagers over the disturbance of their farmland.
According to a source in the province on Thursday, North Korea’s party shock troops are racing to build more than 1,000 houses in Kangun village before the Oct. 10 celebration of the party’s founding anniversary. They are extracting clay from surrounding ravines and hillsides for construction.
Most of the ravines and hillsides are already being cultivated by local villagers. This has led to scuffles between members of the shock troops assigned to collect the clay and villagers determined to protect their growing crops.
The authorities have already ordered the flood relief shock troops to minimize damage to crops and farmland during reconstruction. But the shock troops have little choice but to dig up private fields to find the clay needed for the accelerated housing project.
“At first, the villagers just watched (the shock troops) and thought they had no choice. But as the shock troops dug up more of their fields, they started to get angry. The villagers complained that the shock troops’ digging was weakening the earth and increasing the chances of a landslide,” the source said.
Villagers acknowledged that their private fields were not officially recognized as farmland, but they said that if the shock troops dug up too much of the soil, the damage would almost certainly cause a landslide during the next heavy rain.
Locals fear excavations may trigger more disasters
The villagers are angry that ostensible efforts to rebuild after the flood may actually increase the risk of another natural disaster.
The villagers strongly objected to the shock troops’ excavation of the clay. “Digging into the hillside like this will create the conditions for a landslide, even with light rainfall. Can’t you see that?” the source quoted one villager as saying.